Former Tiger T.J. Leon climbs the ladder in athletic department

Sunday

Jun 30, 2013 at 12:01 AMJun 30, 2013 at 1:00 AM

Joe Walljasper

When T.J. Leon played football at Missouri, he assumed his scholarship was just a freebie from the university. Those glorious stadiums where the games were played? Well, they were always just … there, right?

Now, he sees things differently. Every one of those scholarships is paid for through donations, which must be solicited by thick-skinned development officers. For every “yes” they hear a “no” or a “hell no.” The facility building booms, like the one Missouri is currently undertaking, are the products of cultivated long-term relationships.

“Every day when I drive in, I’ve got a smile on my face when I see those cranes,” he said.

Leon, who played for the Tigers from 1998-2002, has spent the last six years raising money for MU’s Tiger Scholarship Fund. On June 21, he was promoted to assistant athletic director for development. His primary responsibility is soliciting major gifts for endowed scholarships and capital campaigns, such as the current “Going for Gold, A Vision for Excellence” initiative that is funding the expansion of the football stadium, among other facility improvements. Leon played a key role in securing a $6.4 million gift — the donors chose to remain anonymous — that was announced in December.

Leon wasn’t born to schmooze. He said he was an introverted kid who found his release in athletics. Growing up in football-mad Norman, Okla., he gravitated to the sport. He used to sprint up and down the stadium steps at Oklahoma’s Owen Field to stay in shape as a teenager. Former Sooners were his youth football coaches.

Leon, 33, was standout running back and cornerback at Norman High School, but OU didn’t offer him a scholarship. Missouri did. At the time, 1997, the Tigers were an up-and-coming program playing smash-mouth offense under Larry Smith.

Leon figured he would fit right in as a fullback, which he did, at least at first. After a redshirt year, he started two games in 1999. Then came an extended period of buzzard luck. He missed all of 2000 with a broken ankle. Smith was fired after that season and replaced by Gary Pinkel, whose offense didn’t use a fullback.

That should have been his cue to transfer.

“It was, ‘This is the direction we’re going philosophy-wise, and at this point in time we don’t really have a place for you,’ ” Leon said. “My response to that was, ‘Just give me a chance. Let me have a chance to prove I can play and find a fit in your scheme.’ … I didn’t feel like I was brought up here, based on my faith and my upbringing, to back down from a challenge.”

He was moved to tight end. Leon was incredibly strong — he could bench press a team-best 440 pounds — but at 5-foot-11 and 225 pounds, he was not the right size and shape to block on the line of scrimmage without a running head start. Also, he couldn’t catch. Which made him not terribly valuable as a tight end. Thus, he played some special teams but spent the season with the scout-team offense, where the highlight of his year was mimicking Nebraska’s option, teaming with an unknown quarterback named Brad Smith to carve up the starting defense.

It seemed Leon would end his playing days at the bottom of the depth chart, but before the 2002 preseason he switched to tailback. He worked his way up the list to become Zack Abron’s backup. In a game against Texas Tech midway through the season, Abron injured his knee and Leon stepped in to gain 52 yards on six carries. The next week was a homecoming game against Kansas.

If a Missouri football player could have just one memorable game in his career, it might as well be a homecoming game against KU as a senior. Leon plowed through the Jayhawks for 104 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries in a 36-12 victory. Players joined fans in tearing down the goal posts, although, as he explained to reporters afterward, Leon didn’t participate because he noticed a fan being trampled and dragged him out of harm’s way.

Abron came back the next week and Leon went back to his reserve role, but he would always have that game as validation of his persistence.

“For me, it was playing for the guys and the team and the camaraderie,” Leon said. “That’s what really motivated me long-term, building those relationships and seeing that through. I think it’s kind of good to see all that hard work come to a point where you get to have your moment.”

After graduating from Missouri in 2003, he decided he wanted to stay connected to sports but didn’t want to coach, so athletic administration seemed the way to go.

After an internship at a Christian ski camp in Colorado, where he met his future wife, he enrolled in Oklahoma’s new master’s of education program that specialized in intercollegiate athletic administration. He even sat in class next to Joe Castiglione, who was getting his master’s while serving as OU’s athletic director so he could become an adjunct professor.

After Leon completed his graduate degree, he spent 1½ years as a fundraiser at the University of North Texas before returning to Missouri to work for the Tiger Scholarship Fund in 2007. Recently, a few more former MU athletes — football player Brandon Barnes and softball player Cat Lee — joined the staff.

The job comes with pressure, particularly when trying to raise more than $200 million for a campaign to play catch-up in the Southeastern Conference. Fundraising is broken down into six steps — evaluation, early cultivation, advanced cultivation, solicitation, close and stewardship — and TSF officers have to show their bosses they are moving their customers through the process.

But it is also rewarding for Leon, especially when he sees the results of the relationships he’s built.

“It’s been fun,” Leon said. “Coming back to Mizzou and getting the chance to do that for my alma mater and seeing our sports park really start to go, it’s been awesome.”

This article was published in the Sunday, June 30, 2013 edition of the Columbia Daily Tribune with the headline "Seeing the game from all angles: Former Tiger T.J. Leon climbs the ladder in athletic department."

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